How can one show be so sidesplittingly hilarious, whilst also leaving audiences wincing with disgust? The concept of the Hotter Project’s Ham is gleefully riotous. Imagine Hamlet no longer mourns for his dead father, but instead for a pig, as he slowly realises veganism is the only way to go. Sounds fun. Yet, thanks to some uncomfortable truths and disturbing video footage, Ham rejects its satirical form and morphs into a powerful debate on meat eating. To eat or not to eat, that is the question.
Mauling Shakespeare in this manner is undeniably amusing. ‘Out of joint’ refers to a literal joint of meat; Ophelia becomes a black-and-white cat. Yet the constant insertion of climate change statistics into classic lines eventually grows tiresome. It is in the moments around this language that the show sparks. When Ell Potter and Mary Higgins, the writers and performers, continually break free of their roles to provide commentary, they bring the events startlingly into real life.
Higgins declares that they are a vegan; Potter admits they eat meat. Potter particularly plays a vital role. The self-proclaimed ‘Sausage Queen’, they quickly reveal a tattoo of a full English breakfast on their thigh, and therefore limit any kind of virtue-signalling, preachy energy within the piece. The mostly non-vegetarian audience immediately connect with them.
Indeed, Higgins and Potter are masters of an audience. Though their intention is clear, to expose the many issues surrounding meat eating, their tactics are ever-changing, making Ham a slippery beast. What begins as a hysterical audience interaction involving a whip transforms into a dark humiliation of our earthly destruction. Whenever we get too comfortable, videos of pigs squirming inside factory farms play. There’s no burying your head in the sand here.
Near the end of the show, Higgins and Potter sing a version of William Blake’s The Lamb. As they do so, climate emergencies of recent years are projected behind them. They get more recent and closer and closer, until Edinburgh, July 2026 fills the screen. Arthur’s Seat in flames.
After leaving the show, I joined my friends at a nearby restaurant. They had ordered a meat platter. I could only eat the rice. Ham will inform you, make you laugh, and move you in equal measure and, if you’re anything like me, it might just change your meal deal choice for the foreseeable future. Powerful theatre.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
